28th January 2011

This welcome new fixture, arranged by Vets Hon. Sec. Nigel Belle and fellow GB Vet and New Malden Club Manager Claire Baker, was an excellent event, played in an excellent spirit with excellent post match bonhomie.
First on was Nigel, who took an early lead but then succumbed to a cold court and better play by the lovely Claire.

Mandy Akin then took on fellow GB Vet and recently crowned Surrey O60’s champion Andy Larkin. 0/2 down, 2/2, 6/2 up in the fifth – gripping stuff – but a string of mistakes by Mandy allowed Andy to scrape through 9/6.
An out of sorts Robert Smith never got going in his game and Peter Young 1/0 up unfortunately pulled his hamstring (again) and was unable to effectively contest the next three games.

It was left to Karen Hume to rescue the GB Vets from the dreaded 0/5 defeat. A very tight match against fellow Vet, Keith Searle, saw the consistent, positive play of Karen take victory 9/7 in the fifth.

GB Vets 1. New Malden 4.

A great evening was had by all.